The Evils of Cigarette Smoking!
“If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.” —1st Corinthians 3:17
Smoking may not send you to Hell, but it'll make you smell like you've been there!
If God wanted you to have smoke coming out of your head, He would have put a chimney on top!
The Irresponsibility Of Cigarette Smoking And Smokers
I've been around thousands of smokers in my life, most in the secular workplace. I've seen doctors and nurses lined up smoking outside of hospitals, because of proper health policies that prohibit smoking. They know better than anyone what happens to smokers, but they're ADDICTED! There's no addiction like cigarette addiction!!! I'm so glad I never smoked in my life. Even one cigarette can get you hooked!
I am glad that most cities are making it illegal to smoke in restaurants. GREAT!!! There's nothing worse than when you go to eat a nice smelling meal, and then someone's disgusting cigarette smoke blows your way (and it always does). I've moved tables and made a fuss when people inconsiderately light up in a restaurant. Thank God for anti-smoking laws. For so long smokers blew their filth around the restaurant and didn't care about others. Now they can't do it legally! Awesome!
I'd say 95% of all cigarette smokers are inconsiderate people, throwing their cigarette butts on the ground, gossiping about others while they smoke with other smokers, and living immoral lives of apathy and indifference. Literally, cigarette smokers are a whole different breed of society that just don't care about anything except their next smoke. You'll find in general that people who take care of themselves by not consuming alcohol, not smoking and not looking at pornography are a better class of people. Cigarette smokers are most often selfish, inconsiderate, rude, likely to be in debt, struggling in their marriage, a slob, insulting, disgusted with life and negative in their opinions (critics).
Cigarette smokers usually despise themselves for smoking, have tried to quit dozens of times without success, spend $1500 a year on tobacco and take dozens of smoke breaks at work every chance they get. Bosses who smoke are usually prejudiced toward smokers, looking out for each other and sharing smokes. Smokers have their own unofficial self-destruction club. Non-smokers are often resented by smokers. Cigarette smoking causes fatigue, obesity and back-pain.
The good news is that giving up smoking can greatly undo the damage if it's not severe (like lung cancer). It takes 5-years of healthy eating, exercise and deep-breathing of fresh air to restore one's natural self.
Couch potatoes and bums usually smoke and drink beer. When a man tells me that he drinks a lot of beer, or pulls out a Penthouse magazine in the workplace, I pretty much already know that he doesn't care what the Bible teaches. If he did then he wouldn't brag about being a beer drinker like so many men do today. It's nothing to be proud of! Booze is shameful. Viewing nudity is shameful. Adam and Eve went to hide when they ate of the fruit of the tree of knowledge, because their eyes were opened to the reality of sin. Public nudity is sinful.
Cigarette smokers have a death wish, because cigarettes are one of the quickest ways to destroy your body's health, especially for women...
"ScienceDaily (Aug. 29, 2011) — The harmful effects of tobacco smoke on atherosclerosis, one of the driving forces of cardiovascular disease, are greater in women than in men."
SOURCE: Cigarette smoking causes more arterial damage in women than in men, study finds
Only Heaven knows the total amount of damage and misery caused by cigarette smoking. How many families have ended up homeless because of a family member falling asleep while smoking? Cigarettes are dangerous because people become so used to smoking that they become reckless and irresponsible. I knew a family whose house burned to the ground on Christmas Eve because the uncle fell asleep with a lit cigarette in his hand. Cigarettes are for a fool!
Americans are seriously addicted to cigarette smoking, and so are many other nations. Hollywood glorifies all manner of sins, including smoking. Anything that deliberately harms the body is sinful. God lives within each Christian. It's important that we be good stewards of everything which God has entrusted to us, and that includes our bodies and everything that we own.
Depression is synonymous with smoking, because the nicotine quickly soothes the brain from tension and stress. In the short term cigarettes please the senses, but in the long-term they destroy one's life and health completely. Many people have died prematurely, suffering horrible slow deaths because of smoking.
Only God knows how many families have been left homeless because of cigarette smoking. Only God knows how many children have been burned with cigarettes by irresponsible adults. Only God knows how many forest fires and other tragedies have been caused by cancer sticks!!!
As a child I remember the brick house next to us catching fire in one of the apartments, burning up completely because the tenant fell asleep while smoking. It's like carrying a lit torch everywhere you go. In fact, listen to how sneaky and conniving the cigarette companies are:
“Although cigarettes seem like nothing more than tobacco wrapped in paper, they are in fact carefully engineered to look, taste, smell and burn a certain way—and to go on burning when not being puffed. This spares smokers the trouble of lighting up again, and pays off in higher sales from cigarettes burning out in ashtrays. But it also means that a cigarette rolling off the lip of an ashtray onto a mattress, or into the crack of a sofa, can smolder undetected for 30 to 40 minutes before bursting into flames.”
SOURCE: FIRE INVESTIGATION—CIGARETTES: HOW OFTEN THEY CAUSE FIRES? (PDF file)
Take a look at how many fire-related fatal residential fires are caused by cigarette smoking... 56%!!!
ABOVE: The National Fire
Protection Association (NFPA) compiled a chart
of residential fires resulting in one or more fatalities
FIFTY-SIX PERCENT of all fatal fires in housing are caused by smoking cigarettes!!! The tobacco companies never warn people on TV about the dangers of cigarettes. They won't spend money to warn people. If they do it's chump-change compared to the billions (yes, billions with a big B) in profits that they make.
One of the best ways to quit smoking is to start eating right (less carbohydrates and more grains and vegetables). And very importantly, learn to breath deep for better oxygenation of the blood cells, which will help reduce sugar levels in your blood and boost overall feeling and health. Try it now... just breath in nice and deep and then let it out. So it again 10 times, but don't hyper-ventilate or you'll faint...
Dividing The Spoils Amongst The Proud
Proverbs 16:19, “Better it is to be of an humble spirit with the lowly, than to divide the spoil with the proud.”
In the 1990's the tobacco companies were sued by the states for all the nursing-related costs associated with caring for victims of cigarette smoking. The Supreme Court ruled against the tobacco companies and it cost them $250,000,000,000 paid out over 25 years! That's a 10 billion state penalty per year! The industry makes $350,000,000,000 a year! So that's like 2.5 % of what the industry rakes in each year!!! There's no justice, the states just want in on the loot. Proverbs 16:19 calls it dividing the spoils with the proud. Anyone who places money over justice is disregarding God and holiness, which is sinful pride. The entire cigarette industry is immoral and ungodly.
In Adolescents, Addiction to Tobacco Comes Easy (teen addiction is becoming epidemic!)
Cigarettes should be outlawed as a Madison Avenue product. It's a free county. If you want to smoke, go ahead and knock yourself out! However, cigarettes ought not be marketed and pushed on the public as they are. Tobacco companies spend tens-of-millions of dollars advertising on billboards and anywhere they can peddle their death sticks. Children are targeted by gimmicks such as Joe Camel (which is sexually suggestive might I ad).
In the Federated States Of Micronesia, on the small island of Palau, they have banned tobacco because so many of their 12-13 year olds are already addicted to cigarette smoking and will all die of lung cancer in their thirties or forties. Tobacco usage is epidemic in many cultures.
It makes me angry that the greedy corporations that profits from pushing nicotine addiction on the public are not held accountable nor responsible.
"The National Conference of State Legislatures reported last month that states were facing combined budget deficits of more than $40 billion in 2009. Raising cigarette taxes is one way some states are trying to make up the shortfall. In 2007, states collected more than $19 billion in cigarette taxes, and Maryland, which doubled its tax to $2 in January was one of 10 states that voted last year to increase those collections. More states are considering cigarette tax increases this year.
The federal government, meantime, collects nearly $7 billion annually in cigarette excise taxes and would have raised those taxes, effective this year, but for the presidential veto of the S-chip legislation, which House Democrats have said is near the top of their agenda for next year.
Omar Little’s hometown, Baltimore, does not collect city taxes on cigarettes, but some municipalities do, for a total of up to $600 million a year. (The combined taxes of New York State and New York City are the highest in the country at $4.25 a pack — $1.50 for the city and $2.75 for the state, including a $1.25 state tax increase that took effect June 3.)
But taxes are not the only government revenue from cigarettes. Settlements in the late 1990s to end state lawsuits against tobacco companies mean that the cigarette industry is paying states nearly $250 billion over 25 years. Under the agreement, those payments to states will continue flowing even beyond 25 years as long as the tobacco industry is healthy. But the payments would phase out as cigarette company profits decline and would ultimately disappear if people stop smoking."SOURCE: Government Gets Hooked on Tobacco Tax Billions - NYTimes.com
According to TobaccoAtlas.org (PDF files), the top six tobacco producing companies in the world made $346,200,000,000 dollars in the year 2008. That's just for one year!!!
"In recent years, publicly traded tobacco companies have consolidated through privatization and mergers. Today there are five major private tobacco companies: Philip Morris International, Altria/Philip Morris USA, Japan Tobacco International, British American Tobacco, and Imperial Tobacco. In addition to these corporations, there are sixteen state-owned tobacco companies that are the leading cigarette manufacturers in specific countries.
China National Tobacco Corporation is the larges t state-owned tobacco company, producing more cigarettes than any other company in the world. In 2008 CNTC manufactured 2.1 trillion of the 5.9 trillion cigarettes produced worldwide." [spelling typos edited]
Isn't that sad? Tobacco companies combined manufacture 5.9 trillion cigarettes. There are 6.7 billion people living upon the earth today. That equates to roughly 1,000 cigarettes for every living man, woman and child on this planet PER YEAR!!! I've never smoked a cigarette in my life. I've never drank a drop of alcohol in my life. AND I DON'T PLAN TO START NOW!!! I had to go look on the internet to learn how many cigarettes come in one pack. There are 20. That again equates to %) PACKS OF CIGARETTES FOR EVERY MAN, WOMAN AND CHILD LIVING UPON THE EARTH PER YEAR!!! That's tragic!
With all the hundreds-of-millions of people starving from lack of food and nutrition; and with all the poor people lacking fresh, clean water to drink and cook; it is a crime against humanity that the rest of the wealthy world purchases enough cigarettes annually to feed the world, cloth the world and house the world. Again, since I don't smoke I had to go research the cost of a pack of cigarettes, which is between $5 to $10. The following chart in from the year 2005 and shows the world poverty level as compared to a U.S. one dollar bill...
Put all this information together and it becomes clear that the world's poor could be cared for if smoker's would just give their cigarette money to the poor instead of the evil tobacco companies. Michael Szymanczyk, CEO of Altria/Philip Morris USA made $24,000,000 in 2008. Louis Camilleri, CEO of Philip Morris International took home $21,600,000 in 2008. Not bad for destroying people's lives with cigarettes!!! Alcohol, pornography, casino gambling... these are all hundred-billion-dollar industries, just like cigarettes. Ecclesiastes 12:14, “For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.”
Here are some sad statistics that ought to make us think, and to greatly appreciate all the blessings which God has given to us in America. ...
- At least 80% of humanity lives on less than $10 a day.
- More than 80 percent of the world’s population lives in countries where income differentials are widening.
- The poorest 40 percent of the world’s population accounts for 5 percent of global income. The richest 20 percent accounts for three-quarters of world income.
- According to UNICEF, 22,000 children die each day due to poverty. And they “die quietly in some of the poorest villages on earth, far removed from the scrutiny and the conscience of the world. Being meek and weak in life makes these dying multitudes even more invisible in death.”
- Around 27-28 percent of all children in developing countries are estimated to be underweight or stunted. The two regions that account for the bulk of the deficit are South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. If current trends continue, the Millennium Development Goals target of halving the proportion of underweight children will be missed by 30 million children, largely because of slow progress in Southern Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.
- Based on enrollment data, about 72 million children of primary school age in the developing world were not in school in 2005; 57 per cent of them were girls. And these are regarded as optimistic numbers.
- Nearly a billion people entered the 21st century unable to read a book or sign their names.
- Less than one per cent of what the world spent every year on weapons was needed to put every child into school by the year 2000 and yet it didn’t happen.
- Infectious diseases continue to blight the lives of the poor across the world. An estimated 40 million people are living with HIV/AIDS, with 3 million deaths in 2004. Every year there are 350–500 million cases of malaria, with 1 million fatalities: Africa accounts for 90 percent of malarial deaths and African children account for over 80 percent of malaria victims worldwide.
SOURCE/READ MORE STATISTICS: Feed for Global Issues Updates
Cigarettes Will Rob Your Health And Lead To Early DeathMy mother had a stroke at age 53 and never walked again. She had both legs amputated after she turned 60 and then eventually died at the young age of 65. She didn't have diabetes, but the cigarettes had destroyed her body's circulation. The entire left side of her body was paralyzed for 12 miserable years. I watched her suffer in that wheelchair year after year while other people her age enjoyed the healthy body which God had given them. I watched my mother ruin her health. You just can't make someone take care of themselves.
I hate cigarettes, if for nothing else because of what they did to my mother. Cigarette smoking has cost the American taxpayers hundreds-of-billions of dollars in nursing home costs and medical treatments. My mother spent 12 years in a nursing home, underwent multiple major surgeries, and still died with a severe addiction to cigarettes. She smoked more in the nursing home than she did before the stroke. I would bring the grandkids to visit her and she would just wheel herself over to another table to mooch a cigarette off someone. It's like the kids weren't even there.
I love my mother and realize that it was the cigarette addiction that was controlling her. I still remember her telling me that she started smoking only a half cigarette a day when she was 14 years old. The horrible habit progressed until she was smoking packs a day by the end of her life. My mother gradually and slowly killed herself with Kool cigarettes. Not so cool, huh? Just remember, you can't take two puffs if you don't take the first.
I don't condemn anyone for their sins and faults, for I am a big sinner just like anybody else (James 2:10; Romans 3:23). God is the only Lawgiver and Judge (James 4:12). Isn't that beautiful? You can't judge me and I can't judge you. People can condemn you and I to the grave, but they can't condemn us to Hell for eternity (but God can). Romans 8:1,34 says there is NO condemnation to those in Christ Jesus who walk after the Spirit (that is, they have the Holy Spirit indwelling them as a believer). We all have to stand before God when we die (Hebrews 9:27; Ecclesiastes 12:7,14). If you have received the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ as payment for your sins, then you are saved.
There's a popular false teaching today in churches that says, “Faith in Jesus is all you need to spend eternity in Heaven.” That's a false gospel because it doesn't include the cross. The Gospel is that Christ died, was buried and rose from the dead (1st Corinthians 15:1-4). There is no salvation apart from the cross. The Cross-less Gospel (faith alone in Jesus alone is not the way of salvation).
